Ski Racin' by Kikkanimal

Come Celebrate with APUNSC

2010-05-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

Spring time for skiers is time for rest, reflection on the past year, the beginning of the NEXT training year and of course, some fundraising efforts. The APU team is hosting the first annual celebration/fundraiser event on Tuesday evening on the APU Campus. Funds raised will be used to offset ever-climbing travel expenses for young and aspiring athletes. If youre in Anchorage, we would love for you to join us. If you are outside of Anchorage but still wish to send a donation, that can easily be arranged. There is no cost to attend the event and we are going to have some fabulous items up for bid. Just announced today is a training trip up to Eagle Glacier via Alpine Air Helicopter ride to ski with us during one of our summer glacier camps!!!!! Additionally, the APU Board of Trustees will be MATCHING EACH DONATION AT 100%!!!!!! Your donations are tax exempt and we hope youll consider it! If you would like more information or have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Last but not least, please help us spread the word about the event by letting others know it is happening. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Kikkan

Sneak Peek into a few Auction Items......

APU Nordic Ski Center Celebration & Fundraiser

A few of the live and silent auction items for fundraiser benefiting

the Competition Fund of the APU Nordic Ski Center are listed below:

Weekend stay at Alaskas Fishing Unlimited Lodge on Lake Clark
Weekday Powder Passes for 2 at Alyeska Ski Resort
A Talkeetna getaway (includes a flightseeing trip/glacier landing for 2 in the Alaska Range with Talkeetna Air Taxi AND lodging at the Talkeetna Roadhouse)
Nordic ski packages (including boots, bindings, and skis) from Rossignol AND Salomon
Lessons with APU Olympic skiers Holly Brooks and Kikkan Randall
A weekend of Cat skiing for two with Chugach Powder Guides
Skiing and lessons in Bend, Oregon with Olympian Lars Flora (includes airplane tickets for 2 from Alaska to Bend, Oregon)

Please join us!

May 4th, 2010 7-9p.m.

APU Atwood Center

Hors doeuvres, desserts, drinks will be provided.

RSVP to Phyllis Gross at pgross@alaskapacific.edu

or at (907) 564.8250

We look forward to sharing a seasons worth of skiing

Opening Cermonies

2010-02-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

Vancouver did not disappoint, the Opening Ceremonies were awesome! Here are some photos!

At the OLYMPICS!!!

2010-02-11T21:07:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! It's been a busy couple of days now that we've officially checked in to the Olympics, have gotten my Team USA uniforms and have moved into the Athlete's Village in Whistler. Everything is pretty sweet. Gotta head to bed now, big day tomorrow with Opening Ceremonies. Will post more reports and pictures tomorrow!

The next day

2010-02-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Some photos from today's easy recovery ski. Pretty sweet!

10th in Canmore WC classic sprint

2010-02-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

Quick report from today's WC classic sprint in Canmore.

Perfect conditions! The sun was actually hot on my back today! Didn't ski super well in the qualifying round but managed 22nd place and advanced to the quarters. Skied better in the 1st round and made it through to the semi's as a lucky loser. Unfortunately I took myself out on the 1st corner and wasn't able to make the A final. Final place was 10th.

First time in the semi's in a real World Cup (7th place in China in '07 doesn't really count b/c it wasn't a full field). Good boost of confidence for next week!

Finished off the day by helping out my good friend Chandra Crawford with a Fast & Female event on Main St. They dumped 50 truckloads of man-made snow on the main strip and we skied with over 80 girls. Inspiration galore! We warmed up with Zuma dancing to African Drums. My boot buddies sounded like tap shoes!

Cheers!

Killer 10km in Canmore

2010-02-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

Quick update from today's 10km skate World Cup in Canmore. Conditions were just about as good as it gets, temps in the mid-20's (F) and clear blue skies. The man made snow was firm and rocket fast!

Felt good warming up, which was a change from my heavy legs earlier in the week. I started in the middle of the pack. The race plan was to start conservative and build speed through the race.

I felt like I started at the pace I wanted to, however, I got a split at 1.5km that I was already 15 seconds down to the leader, meaning I had started much slower than anticipated. I tried to spike up the pace, but the climbs began to take their toll and I couldn't seem to gain any ground. An Italian racer that started right behind me, passed me around 3km and the difference in pace was obvious.

Coming through the stadium and onto the 2nd lap, I vowed to myself to try and get back into the race. However, the effort kept feeling harder and harder, and I struggled just to maintain my less-than-ideal pace. Determined not to give up, even though I was not having the race I wanted to, I kept encouraging myself to fight for every second. I managed to have an okay final 2km and came across the line in 44th place.

I didn't let myself dwell on the disappointment for long as I had great races by my teammates to celebrate. Caitlin Compton put together an awesome race for 14th place, Morgan Arritola was strong in 23rd and Holly Brooks debuted in her first World Cup start with a wicked 24th place finish! It's great to see our American women ski so well.

Tomorrow is a new day. A classic sprint is on tap. It's a new course from what we raced here two years ago and I'm looking forward to putting down a solid effort.

Here are some shots from the men's race today:

My husband Jeff racing for Canada!

My APU teammate Mike Hinkley skied great today in his first World Cup race!

James Southam looking strong!

Ivan Babikov, the climbing machine!

Kris Freeman, strong in 20th place.

Photos from Canmore

2010-02-04T20:06:00.001-08:00

Liz showing us the "gorby gap"

The flags as they stood in 1988...

Looks like a shady deal going down...

Urban trail grooming...

"No, my suit is cooler!"

Bored in Canmore Video

2010-02-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

Bored in Canmore...

Pre race day

2010-02-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the 10km skate World Cup here in Canmore. So today was a "race prep" day. Went out this morning in the glorious sunshine and tested skis. Also did a little faster skiing to jump start the engine for tomorrow. After a couple easy days, my body is starting to kick around and feel pretty good. Tomorrow's race course will be challenging, can't wait!

Easy day

2010-02-02T14:43:00.001-08:00

After yesterday's hard intervals, I did a nice easy ski this morning. Conditions were fantastic!!

Prep in Canmore

2010-02-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Canmore, Alberta where I am currently prepping for the upcoming World Cups this Friday and Saturday. After a few days of distance training to get acclimatized to the altitude here (around 4800ft), today was a chance to throw in some intensity and wake up the race system. My first few days here felt pretty crummy but by yesterday afternoon I was starting to feel more spunky and rested. Today's intervals were a mixed bag. The first couple were okay but I felt heavy fatigue on the last one and cut the workout short. Now I will take it easy for a few days to come in strong to Friday's 10km.

Liz and Morgan arrive today, so I'm looking forward to the increase in volume (via laughter) this afternoon!

Motivation from the Tour

2009-07-25T10:07:00.001-07:00

Just watching the final mountain stage of the '09 Tour de France. Those guys are hammering! Can't wait to get out the door for my two hour distance session right after!

Getting going again

2009-07-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

I'm excited and newly motivated to get this blog going again. Being a full-time ski racer is a pretty interesting lifestyle. We spend hours out there and there's no limit to the thoughts that can run through one's head. I'm hoping to remember a few of those random thoughts and share this road with you. Stay tuned :)

Joining the team in Park City

2007-07-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

After spending most of the summer in Alaska, I have just traveled down to Park City, Utah to join the rest of the 2008 US Cross-country Ski Team for a training and team cohesion camp.

Day one was fast and furious with treadmill testing at the ski team strength facility. While skate rollerskiing on a giant treadmill, the sports science staff was able to measure oxygen intake and blood lactate values to monitor changes in fitness. Preliminary results-- I'm in good shape! The testing took a while to complete, so I pushed my second daily workout back to 8:30pm. By the time I finished a solid L3 workout with coach Justin Wadsworth, it was dark!

Day two was a little bit easier to let the body recover from the travel and the testing. I had a good recovery DP session with Lindsey Dehlin and will spend the rest of the afternoon resting up for tomorrow's double session.